Football, soccer, the hooligans game  - whatever you call it, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is about to help boost beer sells everywhere.  This madness that only comes every four years is just two days away and I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait!  The last couple weeks now my friends and I have been talking about how we’re going to follow the games.  Some said they’re  going to catch the first game at the International Tap House (who is opening their doors at 9am), some on the couch at home or if you’re like me, stuck at work and wishing you were at a bar at 9am.  The one that really stood out to me was the answer, “On my phone.”  I mean why not we do pretty much everything else on our phones and hell, if you’ve got an EVO you can even watch the match live on ESPN Mobile using Sprint TV.  OK, for those of you that know me or follow Freakn’ Sweet, you know I’m a phone geek so it shouldn’t be a surprise that this got me thinking:

What are the best mobile apps for following the 2010 World Cup?

Read on to find out.

Even though I’m an Android user I’m going to try and not be biased so you iPhone and Blackberry peeps don’t have to worry.

1. Live FIFA 2010 World Cup

The features of Live FIFA 2010 World Cup for Android make this app without question my top pick.  Like most of these apps you pick your favorite team and you get kept up to date on news about the team, but where this one takes the advantage is it’s live score updates for every match.  You can see all of the group bracket info you could dream of as well as checkout the venues the teams will be playing at, follow the full schedule and get exclusive global news from FIFA’s official website.  It features World Cup Tournament History dating back to 1930 when you need to disprove your know-it-all friend too.  Another cool feature about this app is that you can follow what people are “tweeting” about with it’s integrated Twitter feed or vote in polls such as, “Who is the most underrated player in the 2010 World Cup?”

Unfortunately this app will set you back a $2.99 (thats a lot, we know) but it’s well worth it.

2. ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup

This iPhone app has it all… well almost.  With it’s full schedule, you’ll never miss your team in action.  To start out you pick your favorite team (or teams) so that you can easily follow all of the news surrounding them.  You also get full bios and stats for each player for all 32 teams.  Pretty cool feature if you want to know exactly who’s playing.

The next part of this app is geared towards the super-fans.  It has extensive history of the tournament dating back to 1930, and includes an overview, trivia and controversies for each year. Sign in with your myESPN account to post comments about your team or participate in the “Fantasy Bracket Predictor,” where you can attempt to forecast the outcome of each World Cup match.

Oh, and it has a pretty slick UI.

3. Goal.com

With Goal.com’s mobile app you’ll have the entire World Cup at your fingertips, but that’s not all.  The application features easy-to-navigate tabs, including:

• Live Scores
• Breaking News from across the world, fully illustrated with photographs
• All the Champions League action
• News from the major leagues of England, Italy, Spain, and many more
• The famous Goal.com Transfer Zone – get informed in time for the summer transfer window.

One of the other cool things about the Goal.com application is not only is it free, is that it’s available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile smartphones.  Just head over to  www.handmark.com or by going to http://m.goal.com/app directly from a mobile browser.

4. AP 2010 World Cup Coverage

The Associated Press has been covering the games since the very beginning and is committed to giving fans full news coverage.   With customizable skins for each team, you can show everyone (at least everyone you show your phone to anyway) who you are rooting for. There is an easy to follow schedule feature that shows which teams are playing and at what time. Also, a photo and video feature will be updated once the tournament starts. The app also has a “venue” feature and lists a bit of history and interesting facts about all 10 stadiums where the games will be played.

Now I must say, for the iPhone I thought this app was pretty slick.  However, on the Android side I was pretty disappointed.  It’s only a link to a mobile site that wasn’t very impressive

5. Yahoo Mobile

OK, I know I just hated on a mobile site but I’m pretty impressed with Yahoo Mobile.  I think they do a great job of getting you a clean UI with super fast load times.  Yahoo has a Today section, match info with scores and team info as well.  It’s definitely a great place to check for some quick updates.  To see for yourself point your mobile browser to http://m.yahoo.com/worldcup

So that concludes my favorites.  I can definitely tell you my HTC Hero will be running Live FIFA 2010 World Cup.  How will you be following the World Cup?

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It’s no surprise that Apple unveiled its new iPhone 4 ($200-$300) today and it looks just like we expected.  I’m still a die hard Android fan but after seeing this I guess I should take back a couple of those mean things I’ve said about Apple over the past couple months.   Hardware wise this new bread takes a huge leap forward with features like an Apple A4 processor, app multitasking, 7 hours of talk time, a backlit 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash and 720p video recording (and iMovie), a front-facing camera for FaceTime video calls, an eye-popping 960 x 640 Retina display, a glass front and back and stainless steel body, and one of the skinniest profiles on the market.

So now that you want this, here’s what you need to know.  They hit AT&T on June 24th and will be available in white or black, retailing at $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB.   The 3GS will be dropped to $99 and the 3G will disappear completely. Pre-orders start in a week, with 5 countries at launch (US, France, Germany, UK, Japan), with 18 more following in July.

Check out the full press release after the break.

Apple Presents iPhone 4

All-New Design with FaceTime Video Calling, Retina Display, 5 Megapixel Camera & HD Video Recording

Thinnest Smartphone Ever

SAN FRANCISCO-June 7, 2010-Apple® today presented the new iPhone® 4 featuring FaceTime, which makes the dream of video calling a reality, and Apple’s stunning new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in super crisp text, images and video. In addition, iPhone 4 features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 processor, a 3-axis gyro and up to 40 percent longer talk time-in a beautiful all-new design of glass and stainless steel that is the thinnest smartphone in the world. iPhone 4 comes with iOS 4, the newest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, which includes over 100 new features and 1500 new APIs for developers. iOS 4 features Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform. iPhone 4 will be available in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan on June 24, starting in the US at just $199 for qualified buyers with a two year contract.*

“iPhone 4 is the biggest leap since the original iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “FaceTime video calling sets a new standard for mobile communication, and our new Retina display is the highest resolution display ever in a phone, with text looking like it does on a fine printed page. We have been dreaming about both of these breakthroughs for decades.”

FaceTime is as mobile as your phone, so you can see your loved ones and friends anywhere there is Wi-Fi. Using FaceTime is as easy as making a regular voice call, with no set-up required, and you can instantly switch to the rear camera to show others what you are seeing with just a tap.

Apple’s stunning 3.5 inch Retina display has 960 x 640 pixels-four times as many pixels as the iPhone 3GS and 78 percent of the pixels on an iPad™. The resulting 326 pixels per inch is so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when the phone is held at a normal distance, making text, images and video look sharper, smoother and more realistic than ever before on an electronic display.

iPhone 4 is the thinnest smartphone ever-9.3 millimeters-with an all-new design and build quality like no other mobile device. The front and back are made of aluminosilcate glass, chemically strengthened to be 30 times harder than plastic, more scratch resistant and more durable than ever. The front and back glass have an oil-resistant coating that helps keep it clean, and encircling iPhone 4 is a highly finished stainless steel band made of a custom alloy that is forged to be five times stronger than standard steel.

iPhone 4 features a new 5 megapixel autofocus camera with a 5x digital zoom, a backside illuminated sensor and built-in LED flash that allows you to take amazing pictures even in low light and dark environments. iPhone 4 lets you record and edit incredible HD video and the popular tap to focus feature now works while recording video. You can use the iPhone 4′s LED flash for both still photography and video recording. The new iMovie® app for iPhone lets you combine movie clips, add dynamic transitions and themes and include photos and music, and users can buy it for just $4.99 through the App Store right on their phone.

iPhone 4 is the best mobile device ever for games and entertainment, with access to tens of thousands of games and entertainment apps on the revolutionary App Store. Every iPhone 4 has a built-in 3-axis gyro that when combined with the accelerometer provides 6-axis motion sensing such as up and down, side to side, forward and backward and pitch and roll, making it perfect for gaming. Developers can access the gyro using the new CoreMotion API to make games and other apps that go well beyond what other mobile devices offer.

iPhone 4 comes with iOS 4, the newest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. With over 100 new features, it includes Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform. With Multitasking, users can now instantly switch between any of their apps while preserving battery life. With Folders, users can easily organize their apps into collections by simply dragging one app on top of another. A folder is automatically created and named based on the category of apps selected. Users can change the name of any folder at any time. In addition, users can now customize their lock and home screens with an array of supplied wallpapers or with any of the photos on their phone.

The new iBooks® app will be available for iPhone 4 as a free download from the App Store and includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile product. The iBooks app will sync your current place in a book, along with any bookmarks, highlights and notes you have created, between copies of the same book on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch®. iBooks users can also now read and store PDFs right in iBooks. There are now over 60,000 books available in the iBookstore, and users have downloaded over five million books in the first two months.

More than five billion apps have been downloaded from the revolutionary App Store and more than 225,000 apps are available to consumers in 90 countries. Almost 100 million iPhone and iPod touch users around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

iPhone 4 delivers an amazing seven hours of talk time on 3G networks, up to 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi and up to six hours on 3G, and up to 10 hours of video playback and up to 40 hours of audio playback.** iPhone 4 is powered by Apple’s new A4 processor that provides exceptional processor and graphic performance along with long battery life. iPhone 4 features a second microphone and advanced software to suppress unwanted background noise for improved call quality when in loud places. iPhone 4 also offers 802.11n Wi-Fi networking and adds quad-band HSUPA to provide 7.2Mbps downlink and 5.8Mbps uplink capability.***

Pricing & Availability 
iPhone 4 comes in either black or white and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model in both Apple and AT&T’s retail and online stores, Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores. iPhone 4 will be available in the US, France, Germany, Japan and the UK on June 24 and customers can pre-order their iPhone 4 beginning Tuesday, June 15 from the Apple Online Store or reserve an iPhone 4 to pick up at an Apple Retail Store. iMovie for iPhone will be available on the App Store for just $4.99 (US).

Also on June 24, a new iPhone 3GS 8GB model will be available for just $99 (US). iOS 4 software will be available on June 21 as a free software update via iTunes® 9.2 or later for iPhone and iPod touch customers.****

iPhone 4 will roll out worldwide to 88 countries by the end of September. iPhone 4 will be available by the end of July in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

*Qualified customers only. Requires a new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

**Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

***Speed is dependent on cellular network capability.

****iOS 4 is compatible with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB). Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 or third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB).

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

[via Engadget]

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As we’ve said before, geeks like fashion too and though these aren’t Transformer cufflinks, their pretty damn cool. Each of these USB Flash Drive Cufflinks ($200) house a mini 2GB flash drive , giving you 4GB of fashionable storage.  You can get this techi-bling in three styles; polished, gunmetal or gold (for all you gangstas).

[via Uncrate]

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Hippies and outdoors people will rejoice over this.  At least I know I will….  I’m a huge fan of using natural wood (first of all, wood) in design and the people at Karvt have definitely impressed me with these Wood MacBook Skins ($35).  You can get these 100% wood skins in a variety of  types such as Bamboo, Cherry, Maple, Pine or Walnut and since these are all natural each skins wood grain, patterns and knots will be unique.  They all look awesome but I think my favorite is the Chocolate Cherry.

While you’re busy drooling over the MacBook skins, be sure to check out Karvt’s wooden iPad skins too.

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Most cell phones come with cameras these days but this could be considered a camera that comes with a cell phone, meet the Nokia N8 ($TBA).  Sporting the new Symbian 3 operating system this PHONE packs the best cell phone camera yet.  It features a 12 megapixel sensor, Carl Zies optics, a Xenon flash and HD video recording.  Oh and the phone part… it’s got a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, HDMI output, 16GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, and will support a lot of upcoming apps.

Pretty sweet IMO.

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I haven’t geeked out on a new phone in a while so I think we’re about due.  Now granted this isn’t the EVO but I think it’s up there.  It’s the new HTC Droid Incredible ($200) and it hits Verizon on the April 29th. (You can pre-order it now)  I instantly think this is leaps and bounds above the Motorola Droid if for no other reason than that it comes with the Sense UI.  This guy is taking some cues from the Nexus One as well, the Incredible offers a 3.7-inch, 480×800 AMOLED capacitive touch screen, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Android 2.1 with the HTC Sense UI, an optical joystick, an eight megapixel camera with dual LED flash, and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

So is it incredible?  That’s for you to decide but I bet it’s better than your current phone.

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I’m sure you’re probably getting tired of the iPad chatter all over the web.  I know I am, I usually get giddy for gadgets like this but I’m just not crazy about the iPad. I know that there are a lot of cool things about it, like the fact that it doesn’t have flash, but I don’t think I’m going to hop on this band wagon.  In the mean time, this is one of my favorite “shows”.  Will it Blend by Blendtec is known for destroying tons of new gadgets and now the iPad gets its turn.  Check out the video after the break.

Note: He did cheat a bit because he removed the metal back.  Oh… and does anyone think he kinda sounds like Grissom from CSI?

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Admit it, you’ve been thinking this all along and Etsy designer Hiphandmaids made it happen.  We introduce to you the iMaxi($30) feminine pad-themed iPad case, with wings and all.  I love it!

“It shields your iPad from all those unsightly data leaks that would make any motherboard worry!”

It comes in blood… I mean red too!

[via GearFuse]

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I’m not real big into house, electronica or techno but I’ve got some friends that are.  So when I saw these turntables I definitely thought of them.  The Berlin-based Metrofarm is the design house responsible for this collection of sweet, custom built turntables for DJs who want that extra style.

[via DesignCrave]

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I didn’t watch the Oscar’s last night so I didn’t get to see this when all the cool kids did, but if you’re not a cool kid either here you go!  Apple’s first iPad TV commercial featuring “There Goes My Love” by The Blue Van.  Check it out after the break and let us know if you want one.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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